My day actually began about 2 a.m., when my youngest woke me up with the statement that he couldn't breathe. David had an eventful day on Thursday, when he threw up 11 times (we counted). The next day the flu symptoms turned into cold symptoms, and he was stuffy and had lots of mucus in his throat. Somewhere along the way I came down with the same thing, and now Jim has the same symptoms. I was hoping for an uneventful day.
Right after lunch I was folding towels when our son Jonathan came in with a "Mom, we have company!" Friends stopped by on their way to visit the husband's parents, who live at Lake Metigoshe. It was nice to see them, although I had a little trouble talking since I was so plugged up. At least being sick gave me an excuse for the mud that had been tracked in and not cleaned up, as well as other things sitting around. Right after they left the boys informed us they had discovered the big chest freezer we have upstairs must have quit working somewhere along the way, as everything in there had thawed. Oh no!
Samson our dog thought it was the neatest thing, since he was the recipient of some of the thawed food. We all sorted what was okay to keep and what was to be tossed. I got busy and pulled out the pressure canner, as the raw pork and venison was thawed but still cold. I think I should have raw packed the meat, as the finished product looks a bit mushy, but I'm sure we will use it. I'm very thankful for the experience of almost 2 years ago, when our friend Steve, along with our family purchased 200 former laying hens from a Hutterite community about 3 hours from here, and we spent quite a few days canning the meat. I sure was tired of the odor of chicken fat by the time we were done! That canning marathon helped prepare me to do this meat canning on my own.
We left some chicken and other mostly frozen meat in a couple of coolers outside, but the weather forecast calls for temps in the low 40's tomorrow, so we'll have to do something with it in the morning. I sure hope whatever Jim did to the freezer worked, and it works, so I won't have to do any more canning.
2 comments:
we managed to pick up a bug from the convention and have had influenza for 6 days now - I am soo tired of being weak and sick and not able to do anything for long without needing to lie down. I had forgotten how many times you guys come back with something and told Ben that we couldn't afford to be sick this weekend and should have skipped the convention! (Our pigs are due to farrow today and unfortunately influenza is actually transmissible to pigs!)
At least the girls are all right today although that means they have way too much energy!
Hopefully you guys feel better soon.
Heather
Hello Lynn, Happy Easter, Say hello to the Turtle Mountain Boys for me. You have had more than your share of tough deals. Prayin for ya all. Ya want the warm weather to come then ya get hit with a broken freezer and ya wish it would stay cold for a spell. Take care.
Guy
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